Taking it Slow
by Brightest Firefly
Summary: Ryan realizes that what he feels for Taylor is more than just a physical attraction. Oneshot.


Spoilers through The Summer Bummer. Picks up right where the episode ended.

* * *

"Get out, party's over!" Kaitlin yelled through the door, pounding on it.

Ryan sighed, biting his lip as he pulled his hands out from under the back of Taylor's shirt and moved them to rest on her hips. He took a few deep breaths to attempt to calm himself down.

"It's probably for the best," Taylor said softly with a teasing smile, and a lingering kiss. "You did say you wanted to go slow. A few more minutes of that and you would have had me ready to go zooming down the express lane."

He leaned his body into hers, pushing her against the back wall of the closet. "Express lane, huh? Sounds pretty good to me," he mumbled between kisses.

"Seriously!" Kaitlin's voice interrupted again. "Whoever is in there, it's time to get out. You've been in there for like 20 minutes!"

Taylor pushed Ryan away and opened the door. They were greeted by Kaitlin seated on the arm of the chair Brad was sitting on, rag in hand as she cleaned his face. Her jaw dropped and she looked from Taylor to Ryan and back again. "Nice to see you moving on, Ryan," she stated, her tone unreadable.

Taylor looked at Ryan apologetically and tried to pull him away with her, but instead, he turned to Kaitlin, immediately defensive. "Look, Kaitlin-"

"Ryan, chill," she replied with an amused air to her voice. "I mean it; I'm glad you're finally moving on." She smiled warmly to assure him that she was truly sincere, then sat down beside Brad to resume cleaning the marker off of his face.

Taylor grabbed Ryan's hand, leading him up the stairs. "Since Summer's back, I'm in the guestroom now." She led him down a long hallway that he'd never seen before and into a cozy room that was somewhat removed from the rest of the house. She clicked the door closed behind her and turned the lock. When she faced him, she found that his eyes were dark with desire. She walked towards him and pushed him back on the bed. Taking his mouth in a hungry kiss, she crawled onto his lap. He leaned back so that he was lying on the bed and pulled her on top of him.

"So tell me Ryan," she spoke softly into his ear. "Are you a fan of the Kama Sutra?"

Ryan's eyes widened. "Uh, I..." His voice cracked. What was it about her that made him feel like an awkward virgin? "I've never actually...tried any of that before."

"Really? I wouldn't have pegged you as a missionary guy."

"I may have tried a few things, but I'm not exactly a sexual Jedi."

"Are you kidding? One kiss and I think I would have agreed to anything. Seriously, _anything._"

He smiled. "Well I'm open to suggestions."

"Ryan Atwood, I have so much to teach you," she nearly squealed with delight then quickly added, "Not now. We're taking it slow, I know."

"Actually, I've been rethinking this whole taking it slow thing." He knew he shouldn't be saying things like this when his judgment was clouded by his hormones, but he just didn't care.

"Have you?" she asked, as her hands crept under his shirt and raked down his chest, before edging into the waistband of his pants. She nibbled on his ear, gently at first, then a little bit roughly. She pushed her hips into his and then reached down to touch the outline of his erection.

"Taylor-" he grunted.

She pulled back, and sighed. "Too fast, right. Sorry."

"No, I just meant...wow. You're really good at that."

"Well in that case," she purred, her hands inching down lower. She gripped the top of his thigh and his hips bucked up, as he gasped.

"Taylor," he rasped. She glanced up at him and he could hardly believe this was happening. He put his finger under her chin and tilted her head so that she was looking at him. Her lips were swollen and her face was flushed. "You're so beautiful, you know that?"

She looked away from him shyly. "That's really sweet, but you don't have to say things like that. I mean, I already told you I want to sleep with you."

"Actually, I believe what you said is that you want to 'use my body as a jungle gym'." He stroked her arm gently. "But the only reason I'm saying it is that it's the truth." Before she could argue, he pulled her into a slow and tender kiss massaging her tongue with his.

* * *

A few weeks later, Ryan returned home from yet another rendezvous with Taylor. He found Seth and Summer in the living room playing video games. "Seth, I need to talk to you. Now. It's important."

Seeing the urgent look on Ryan's face, he set down his controller. "I'll be right back," he told Summer, following Ryan out to the pool house. "What's up?"

"It's Taylor." He was pacing around the pool house and looking completely on edge.

Seth sat down in the chair across from the bed. "I thought things were going great with you guys."

Ryan sat down on the bed, resting his head in his hands, exasperated. "They are."

"So what's the problem?"

Ryan ran a hand through his hair and looked up. "When she and I started this thing, we kind of agreed that we'd take it slow. I'm still dealing with Marissa and her divorce is nowhere near final yet."

"Sounds like a good idea," Seth nodded.

"Except we haven't been taking it slow. And we've been talking a lot in addition to the other stuff and...I really like her…"

"But you're still hung up on Marissa?" Seth guessed.

Ryan hesitated. "I don't think so. I mean, she's the first girl I ever loved, so it's not like that's ever going to go away completely, but the more time I spend with Taylor, the more I think I'm ready to move on. I don't want me and Taylor to be a casual thing anymore."

"Well, then you should tell her," Seth stated. "Girls always love that stuff."

"You think?"

"Yeah, definitely. You could talk to Summer if you don't believe me."

"But Taylor's kind of...different. I don't know if she wants a relationship and I don't want to freak her out."

"Ryan, this is Taylor. She pretended to be a sleep therapist to seduce you. It'd be pretty hard to freak her out."

"Good point. Okay, I'll tell her."

* * *

For Chrismukkah, the Cohen-Cooper-Roberts-Townsend clan had all gathered at the Cohen house. After a huge dinner and a few hours of opening presents, Ryan managed to pull Taylor away from the crowd, out to the pool house. "I got you something."

"I got something for you, too, but I didn't want you to open it around everyone else." She bent down and reached under the bed. "So I hid it in here."

Ryan laughed, pulling her present out from the top drawer of his nightstand. They sat down on the bed together. "Ladies first."

She slid her fingernail under the paper, carefully opening it. She gasped when she saw a boxed set of her favorite animé series. "Ryan, how did you find this? I didn't know they sold it here."

"They don't. Seth helped me find it. Do you like it? Because I can exchange it for something else if you don't-"

She cut off his words with a kiss. "I love it. Thank you so much. Now open yours!"

He opened his gift in the same manner, and laughed when he saw a copy of the Kama Sutra. "Thanks, this is really...great." He could feel that he was blushing, and it amazed him how Taylor brought this out in him. "Are you gonna help me with it?"

"Of course! But there's more."

Underneath the book was a box labeled _Our First Bondage Kit_. "Whoa."

"It's pretty tame. It's just got some wrist and ankle restraints, blindfolds, some feather teasers."

Ryan was speechless for several moments before he leaned into her and kissed her hard on the mouth. She responded eagerly, pushing him back onto the bed. When she reached for his belt, he pulled away. "There's something I have to talk to you about."

She immediately moved off of him and avoided his eyes. "This can't be good."

"No, it's not like that, hear me out. It's just this arrangement we have. I don't think we can keep doing this. _I_ can't keep doing this. I really like you, Taylor and I just need to know if you feel the same way. I need to know if what we have is more than just friends with benefits or a rebound fling."

She looked at him, taken aback. That was the one thing she didn't expect him to say. "Are you kidding? I'm crazy about you! It's just, I know that my divorce isn't final yet, and also, I just didn't want to push you into something you weren't ready for." She used one finger to push her bangs to the side and leaned towards him. "But if you are ready..."

His lips turned up in a mischievous smile. "Do you maybe wanna go somewhere this weekend?"

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, smiling sweetly at him. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was incredibly innocent.

"I don't know, just something away from Newport," he said, pulling her up against him and kissing her. "Some place private." His pressed his hand against the front of her jeans. "Somewhere we can put these gifts to use."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Review please! Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome! 


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